Fabric treatment devices which are used to remove odors and wrinkles from clothing are known. These devices can generally be split into two categories, steam generating devices and fluid dispensing devices which wet the fabrics with water, chemical compositions, or combinations thereof. Devices of both categories typically wet the fabric with steam or the fluid, then subject the wetted fabric with heat and circulating air to allow the fabric to be dried, thereby decreasing any odors and wrinkles. Despite the many attempts to provide convenient stand alone devices for deodorizing and dewrinkling clothing, there remains a need to make devices which are time and energy efficient, consume less space, and are easy to use.
The use of steam to deodorize and dewrinkle clothing is known in the art. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,961. Another type of fabric treating device distributes fluids, such as water and/or chemical compositions, onto the fabrics by misting within the device or distributing the fluid directly onto the fabrics. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,346 to Chen et al. Yet another type of fabric treating device involves the use of ultrasonic nebulizers to distribute the fluids onto the fabrics. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,186 to Gaaloul et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,137 Jonsson et al. These devices typically have metal or plastic body parts and flow heated air through the interior of the device to treat the fabrics. Heating elements and circulation of heated air is typically used to accelerate the drying time to complete the treatment cycle. In order to further decrease cycle times, the devices increase the temperature of the heating elements. One problem with the use of heating elements and circulated heated air is that hot spots can form in discreet sections of the device resulting in thermal wear and tear on the device parts. Further, fabrics treated with conventional devices tend to dry in discreet areas based on the proximity to the heat source and air flow path. To achieve sufficient drying of the entire fabric, the heating and drying cycle continues for extended periods of time, resulting in the already dried portions of the fabric often being over dried and feeling brittle and crunchy to the touch.
Despite these and other attempts to provide fabric refreshing devices, there remains a need for a device which is less susceptible to thermal wear and tear on device parts and is more efficient during the heating and drying process of the fabric treatment cycle.